


Did You Know?

by Sushispider1212



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom
Genre: Background Boomer for now, Benrey is both the player and the AI, But like not the average role swap, M/M, More tags will be added as the story progresses, Role Swap AU, You’ll see how that works
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26914612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sushispider1212/pseuds/Sushispider1212
Summary: “We’re all scrambled, like an egg before you put it in a frying pan.”An average gamer buys a used VR headset, one with a weird, modded version of Half-Life on it. Soon, the game has consequences, and now Benrey’s in a race against time and a weird glitchy version of themself?
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. Just a regular day at work

**Author's Note:**

> Notes on the whole role swap aspect:  
> I literally just made a list of names and randomized the list. Have fun with the odd combinations!
> 
> Notes on me:  
> I don’t know anything about the original Half-Life. I know some things, but not everything. Don’t kill me fandom.

It was actually surprising that Benrey hadn’t played Half-Life before. Frankly, they had been more of a hack-and-slash fan than a first-person shooter fan, but still. This was Half-Life we are talking about.

It was a little odd though, how this game had popped up on his computer. It must have been downloaded to the headset, but that in itself was odd. Maybe this was a VR mod of the game?

It wouldn’t be surprising, Benrey had seen crazier stuff done to this game. It could be pretty cool, actually to see this done well.

The second weird thing about this, was that he had gotten the VR headset used. Wasn’t it kinda unprofessional leave a game on the headset? Interesting.

But it would be fine. In fact, it would be kinda fun playing the game the first time, as well as in VR. So with that, Benrey starting downloading the game.

——-

After about an hour, the game was ready. Benrey had gotten the controllers calibrated, and his messy room all cleaned up so he wouldn’t trip over anything while playing. 

Benrey opened the game, and put on the headset. From his meager knowledge of the game, everything looked fine, even in VR. Whatever, it was cool. Everything was fine.

They hit the new game option and waited for the game to load. If the fade to black had anything to do with it, it was probably mis-loading the loading screen. Could just be an effect of the VR mod, but it wasn’t like they had any frame of reference for this either.

And the game deposited them on the outside of the trams. Wasn’t game supposed to start on the trams? Or at least have some sort of tutorial? No?

Benrey rolled their eyes and kept walking. They glanced down at the player model, but instead of the regular orange of the HEV model, it was blue. Maybe another mod added to the game? Maybe.

Benrey kept walking, traversing the hallways as directed by the scientist NPCs, poking their head into the various rooms, and not finding much of anything. Was the game anyways going to be this bland? Probably not.

Finally, Benrey strolled into a hallway, where there was a door that would hopefully take him closer to where he was supposed to be. There were two security guard NPCs there, one of which was staring directly at Benrey as they passed.

“Hey.” Benrey said in greeting. The guard who was staring at them stared slightly more intently.

“Hey.” The guard responded. “Do you have an ID? I’m new around here, so I don’t know anyone. Passport maybe?”

Wow, this guard was much more fun than the others. Maybe they could put that improv class to good use. So they responded, “I think you’re a little suspicious. First day on the job? Could be an excuse to steal things. Where’s your passport?”

The guard balked, and Benrey realized that this guy was actually slightly taller than them and could problem lift them above his head, if he so desired. Maybe he was messing with the wrong guy, but it wasn’t real, right?

Finally, the guard dug around in one of their pockets to pull out an ID. Benrey took it to examine it. It had a picture of the guard’s face, which must have been a custom made model, complete with a scar of over his right eye. Benrey handed the card back.

“Forzen, right? Come with me, and we’ll get you that passport.” Benrey opened the door to the next room, watching as Forzen carefully stepped around the other guy and joined them as they headed deeper into the facility.


	2. This is normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know what I feel about this chapter, but it’s something.

Benrey was having a heck of a time. For one, this AI seemed like a complete idiot, much like the others, but Forzen was different. He was more off-putting, they guessed.

Occasionally he would stare into space, and wouldn’t respond to anything until Benrey crossed his line of sight. Another odd thing was when they came across another NPC.

This one was much like Forzen in that odd sense, but Benrey was pretty sure that Gordon Freeman’s model shouldn’t be an NPC. This game must have been seriously messed with.

Gordon was nervously standing in the middle of the hallway. Just standing there, staring at Benrey like Forzen did.

“Yo.” They said as they passed him. Gordon looked down at Benrey (was his model supposed to be slightly taller than Benrey?). Benrey noted that he was in an outfit much like that of the other scientist NPCs. Nice work on editing the model.

Just as Benrey was going to disappear around the corner, Gordon called out to them. “Hey, wait!” 

Benrey stopped and watched as Gordon ran forward, pausing to look at Forzen. “Why do you have a guard following you? You know they aren’t allowed here without permission!”

“I didn’t grab my passport.” Benrey shrugs. “He’s here to make sure I get it.”

“But the passport isn’t necessary, since we know you?” Gordon looked really confused as they kept walking down the hallway.

“Really? What’s my favorite video game?” Benrey snickered as they kept walking.

“Heavenly Sword. You told me this Benrey.” 

That caught Benrey off guard. How did it know that? And his name? It must be one of those games that attach themselves to the computer and find things in the files. How else would it know his name?

They realized they had been staring at the ground for to long, when the little group reached the break room. Gordon immediately went to the billboard on the wall, thankfully distracting him so that Benrey didn’t have to answer any more questions.

Forzen had been awfully quiet this entire time, so Benrey decided to bother him a bit. “So, uh, do you like video games?” 

Forzen looked over at Benrey before quietly responding. “Yeah, but I never have time to play them. I watch walkthroughs of them though.” 

“What kind of games do you like?”

“Oh I like first-person shooters. It’s something about the thrill of decimating your enemies with weapons that you wouldn’t be allowed to actually use in real life that really appeals to me. I like this one game about aliens, it’s called-“ Forzen’s voice was cut off by a loud static noise.

Benrey flinched and covered their ears, the noise really grating. They backed up against the wall, and Forzen looked over at him confusedly. Benrey quickly stood up again. “Just, uh, never mention that game again, okay? Not good for Benrey’s ears.”

Forzen nodded, and they silently kept moving. They eventually came to the locker room, where Benrey would have to officially put on the HEV suit.

As they entered the room, there was one scientist rifling through the lockers. The scientist looked up at them, and then turned around. “Are you the fucker here for the experiment?”

“Yeah, bro.” Benrey looked into the open locker, which had a bunch of spare lab coats in it. “What ya doing in that locker? Is it yours? If it’s not, me and my buddy here will have to escort you out of here.”

The tall scientist scoffed. “No, they’re my clones! I have a right to go through their stuff!” The scientist made a quick wave toward the HEV equipping station on the side of the room.

Benrey got the gist of it and went over there. It was a bit redundant, honestly, but it was cool hearing the suit’s computer going off, but they muted it. It was going to annoying quick if it kept going off.

When they got back, they noticed something else about the scientist, an intricate wedding ring on his left hand. The scientist noticed them staring at it. “Oh, my husband works in another department. I don’t see him often since I got transferred here, but we see each other whenever our schedules allow.”

Benrey nodded, but they were a little intrigued by the info dump. Gay rights in a video game this old? Sweet!

Then a thought occurred to Benrey. When had the visuals become so life-like? Benrey closed their eyes for a moment, but when they reopened, they couldn’t even feel the headset. Um, odd.

Benrey glanced around the room and noticed a mirror. Might as well see what the player model looked like. If it was still the player model. They might have a mental breakdown if it looked like them.

Before they could get there, they heard the scientist speak again. “Come on! We’re already running late for the test! I’ll meet you there.”

Benrey sighed as they turned around, grabbing Forzen by the arm and continuing on. This day better not get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look a tumblr account  
> https://sushispider1212.tumblr.com/
> 
> Go ask about my AUs and stuff there. Or here. I don’t really care either way.


	3. Computers and Cascades

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not have a fun time writing this. Hopefully I did something well?  
> I dunno, my attention was split between several different fic ideas for this, which only maybe will be fleshed out and written properly.

They had managed to lose the scientist somehow. Which was weird, since they were heading in the same direction, but whatever. 

They were on an elevator now, and Benrey looked over at Forzen. The tall guard was absentmindedly staring off into the distance. “Hey, Forzen.” They waited as the guard shifted his attention over to them. “Why do you work here? Just curious.”

“Oh, I was in college and had to pay the bills somehow. Just want to graduate, you know.”

“Oh, okay.” They stood in silence for a while until the elevator opened up again. Benrey stepped out, watching a bunch of scientists who were crowded around a computer terminal. 

One of them rushed over to Forzen, holding a bunch of papers in both hands. He looked extremely stressed out and tired, with prominent bags under his eyes.

“What are you doing here? You don’t have a suit on?” Benrey stepped in between this guy and Forzen, not wanting a conflict. That was half because he wanted to keep talking to this guy and half because this scientist looked stressed out enough.

“Dude, uh, Forzen here wants to watch. He’s not human, so he can’t die from it or anything.” The scientist considered this for a moment, and Forzen anxiously held out his I.D.

The scientist nodded. “Alright, you can watch! I’ll lead you to the observation room when it’s time.” Then a computer behind him exploded.

The scientist tensed up, then turned around. He sighed as he watched the scientists bluster around it. Man, this guy was probably really tired. In fact, he seemed like the only competent person in the room.

Benrey walked to the other end of the room, watching Forzen head over to the other side of the room to help out with the flaming computer. Benrey smiled a little, as they watched the socially awkward guard nervously start dousing the entire fried terminal with a fire extinguisher.

Then Benrey turned around and kept walking.

They finally, finally, got to the airlock for the room. They barely listened to the scientist’s dialogue, waiting for them to open the doors. And when they did, they rushed in an almost suspiciously fast manner.

The NPCs didn’t care about that apparently, as three familiar voices came over the intercom from the observation deck. “Okay, this should be simple Benrey, just press the button up the ladder to release the sample.” That was Gordon, he was sure of it.

As they made their way to the ladder, which happened to go halfway up the side of the cylinder-shaped room, another voice butted in, with a sharp crackle of static as the microphone was presumably fought over. “You better not fuck this up! It took us weeks to haggle for this rock!” That sounded like the scientist from the locker room.

“You’ll do great, Benrey!” That was the scientist from earlier. They wondered if Forzen was with him as well.

Before Benrey pressed the button, he noticed a movement from below. Specifically Forzen pressed against the wall below the observation window, clearly uncomfortable and confused.

Benrey shrugged and pressed the button anyway.

“Benrey, you need to push the crystal into the laser. But do it very slowly. Slower than,” Gordon paused, as if rummaging around in his brain for the words of the metaphor, “molasses drips off a spoon? Yeah, that sounds about right.”

Benrey crept down the ladder, deliberately passing Forzen on the way to the crystal’s cart. Forzen continued to stare ahead after acknowledging their presence for about one second.

They gripped the handles of the cart, slowly pushing it forward, very gradually making its way along the track. Benrey almost had it in perfectly, just a couple more steps and then-

“YOOOOO!!! FEETMAN’S DOING GREAT!!!”

They jumped, pushing the cart in the last of the way, way too rapidly than it should’ve been. The laser turned green and started sparking, lightning tendrils lashing out. 

“Oh no!” Someone yelled out, it was too loud for Benrey to determine who.

One of the tendrils lashed out and struck them, and Benrey could feel the strike. They couldn’t even move, gazing at the lovely void that was presented with the strike.

If they were thinking correctly, the first thing they would question would be the lack of a loading screen, but their attention was diverted to the lovely swirling colors around him. And a figure, a silhouette compared to the neon around them, with their back to Benrey.

Then, all at once, Benrey comes back to the destroyed test chamber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look, a tumblr blog:  
> https://sushispider1212.tumblr.com/
> 
> I reblog things on there mostly, but you can ask about this AU or any other ones I’ve written on there.
> 
> Who knows? Maybe I’ll even talk about the other AUs I was writing while writing this chapter.
> 
> Feel free to yell at me in the comments about anything. I like reading feedback.


	4. Getting the Band Back Together Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woo, filler chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I seriously didn’t like writing this. Not for any reason at all, I just didn’t like it.

When they came back, the first thing they noticed was the destroyed test chamber. Benrey sighed lightly, and began making their way to the destroyed door, stepping over the NPC scientist’s ragdolled bodies strewn over the ground.

Benrey got to walking. They didn’t really know where to heard out from here, but hopefully the linear nature of this game would lead them in the right direction.

Then they came across a destroyed hallway, with a familiar scientist sitting in the corner, the one who had brought Forzen to the observation room. 

“Yo! Are you okay?” Benrey ran up to the scientist, who looked up at Benrey, relief apparent on their facial expression.

“Benrey! We thought you died in there!” The scientist stood up and looked over Benrey. “Well, at least your suit stood up to it. We should really invest in helmets for these things.”

Benrey looked at the scientist for a moment. His lab coat was a little scuffed up, but he looked mostly fine. “What’s your name? You never told me.”

“Oh um,” The scientist glanced around the room. “Darnold. It’s Darnold.”

“Alright Darnold, let’s look for some more survivors. Maybe someone we actually know will be around.” Benrey started making their way down the hallway, Darnold following hesitantly behind.

“Do you think Doctor Bubby’s still alive?” 

“I—maybe.” Benrey honestly didn’t know who the hell that was. They didn’t mean to on, but the words kept springing from the tip of their tongue. “He’s pretty good at beating shit up, he’ll be fine until we see him again.”

Darnold looked at Benrey for a moment, something, concern maybe, showing in his eyes. He didn’t respond as they both kept walking.

That was until they heard a loud clattering from the next room, and Gordon ran into the hallway, lab-coat covered in yellowish liquid, carrying a crowbar covered in the same liquid, and pursued by the weird headcrabs in Half-Life series was known for. Well, not known for, but headcrabs were the one enemy Benrey knew of going in.

Gordon dashed right past Benrey, who was watching in amazement as who-knows-how-many headcrabs scuttled along right behind Gordon, completely ignoring him and Darnold. Darnold tensed up as they crawled right past him.

Benrey watched in utter amazement as Gordon got himself surrounded by the hoard, but none of them were making any moves to try to latch onto his face or anything. Gordon brought his crowbar down on them again and again, but nothing actually happened.

Until something did happen, which was Benrey somehow pulling out a giant gun with a laser and absolutely incinerating the army of headcrabs. The thing glitched into his hands one moment, fired, then glitched back out in an instant, leaving Benrey empty-handed and utterly baffled.

“What was that, Benrey?” Gordon was super confused, still clutching his crowbar so hard his knuckles were turning white.

“Um…Passport.”

“Okay? Anyways, I think I saw a trail of destruction this way, so let’s go.” Gordon went back the way he came, Darnold following hesitantly behind. Well, that was interesting.

Benrey started thinking while they walked. What was that gun? Where had it come from? More and more odd things are happening. And what was that voice from before the cascade? It didn’t sound like anyone here, definitely. Very, very strange.

Before they knew it, the little group had made their way to the observation deck, with that scientist from the locker room frantically pressing buttons on a panel.

“Hey Bubby! Thought you were going this way.” Gordon stepped behind Bubby, looking at the text on a monitor screen. “What are you doing?”

“Communications are down for the entire facility! There’s no way we’ll be able to get anyone out!” Bubby looked up, only to see Benrey, Tommy and Gordon. Then he huffed, drew back his fist, and punched the monitor screen, shattering the glass.

“Forget what I just said. Let’s go wreck some shit!” And with that, the rest of the little group moved on. Until they got to the next hallway, with the lasers.

And one perpetually disturbed security guard.

“Hey, Benrey.” Forzen was standing directly in the path of the laser, his helmet surely getting melted. 

“Hey Forzen.” Benrey started to walk past him, until Gordon spoke.

“Hold on. How are you not dead? That’s a laser! And why do even have a laser in a pipe? This can’t be allowed.” Gordon looked so exasperated that Benrey decided to just drag him into the next room.

“Must be the Black Mesa helmets or something.” After that rather interesting event, they continued forward.

What they didn’t see was a shadow left behind in the laser room, a glitchy ghost sitting in the laser where Forzen stood, staring in the direction he went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, tumblr blog woo!  
> https://sushispider1212.tumblr.com/
> 
> Talk about this here, talk there doesn’t matter. I’m tired of this chapter, so here it is.


End file.
